


love finds a way

by q_is



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Codependency, End of the World, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/q_is/pseuds/q_is
Summary: "Do you still have a crush on me?"Donghyuck opened his mouth to answer but found that he couldn't. He trusted Jaemin, trusted that after everything this wouldn't be a dealbreaker. The words wouldn't come out. He couldn't say he had a crush after all, the word felt childish on his tongue, not close to the truth, not even half of what he felt.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	love finds a way

"Hey," Jaemin called, voice small in the middle of the night. "C'mere."

Donghyuck looked down from where he was staring at the stars, having to turn around to see Jaemin sitting inside the old car that had been with them through thick and thin. It was a bit battled down, a little rusty, but the heater worked and in the rough winter like this one seemed to be, it was all they needed. He jumped down from the hood of the car, boots making a deep impression on the snow covering the streets.

It was weird, looking around a busy city like Seoul was and seeing trees growing from inside buildings. They were doing whatever trees did when it's cold, come spring and they would see the jungle that took over once again, not a single soul for kilometers, wild animals making a home where there used to be people.

It was poetic in a way, Donghyuck thought. That the Earth still spinned, nature still grew, life went on, before we were here and after we're gone.

He got in the car, snuggling into his coat for warmth. The heater was on the highest setting, which he knew one day would make their car give away but for now it worked. They'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Hi", Jaemin said, smiling softly at him. He was lying against the driver's seat, even though he did not know how to drive.

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow at him, smiling back. "Hi yourself."

They went through a lot, the two of them. Together and apart. Donghyuck couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else, his resolve too weak to try to fight for anyone but Jaemin. For him, Donghyuck would go to hell and back and back again, had been there already.

Life was a funny thing. They weren't the biggest friends in school, always competing for a reason or another. Who had the highest grades, who could hold their breath the longest, who could ask their crushes to prom the fastest. He did everything to get Jaemin's attention. Back then, Donghyuck's biggest heartache was trying to ask Jaemin and having to watch him ask somebody else. It was dumb. Donghyuck was never the best at controlling his emotions. They fought, and that was the only reason they were both in detention together when the world ended.

Donghyuck could remember everything that happened. The locked classroom door, the commotion outside, the screams. Trying to get out, begging for whoever was there to hear them. No one came. It was just them. And Donghyuck wasn't able to deal with how Jaemin was looking at him with eyes full of tears, there wasn't a lot Donghyuck wouldn't do for him, to put a smile back on his face.

So he broke a window, took Jaemin's hand in his and ran.

"What are you thinking about?"

Donghyuck blinked his younger teary face away, looking at the real Jaemin beside him. "I wanted to ask you to prom."

"What?" Jaemin laughed, but it wasn't mean, just surprised.

"Yeah. That's why I got upset. Did I never tell you I had a crush on you?" It was a rhetorical question. Donghyuck knew he never told him. He was a scared kid, he was scared even now.

How dumb. He survived the end of the world, fought everyday, and he was afraid of his best friend. His soulmate. Donghyuck picked at his nails, cold washing over him despite the heater. It wasn't because of the winter.

"Donghyuck." Jaemin took him in, trying to read his every secret, learn the ins and outs of his soul. It was terrifying, even now, when Donghyuck didn't have anything to hide. "Do you still have a crush on me?"

Donghyuck opened his mouth to answer but found that he couldn't. He trusted Jaemin, trusted that after everything this wouldn't be a dealbreaker. The words wouldn't come out. He couldn't say he had a crush after all, the word felt childish on his tongue, not close to the truth, not even half of what he felt.

Jaemin didn't wait for him. "Look up."

Not needing to be told twice, Donghyuck raised his head, eyes falling in the rearview mirror, where a little Christmas decoration was hanging. It took him half a second to realise it was a mistletoe.

"Where did you get that?", Donghyuck asked, voice small. So many scenarios swimming around his head it was hard to analyze what it meant.

"That village that we raided last." Jaemin smiled, soft, nervous. "I found some Christmas boxes. With the end of the year coming around I thought... Well, why not. I know we don't celebrate Christmas and I don't know if the tradition still holds but-"

Donghyuck interrupted him, pulling on his hand so Jaemin fell towards him with a small yelp, as he pushed himself up just enough for their lips to brush. His heart pounded in his ears and he had to close his eyes, afraid of what he was going to see and what he was going to find.

"You're rambling", Donghyuck whispered, giving Jaemin room to leave if he wanted to.

Instead, Jaemin whimpered, squeezing his hand and melting into the kiss. It was their first, not just with each other. Jaemin kissed like he was starving and he didn't know when his next meal would be, overwhelming, overbearing, Donghyuck never wanted to let him go.

"I asked someone else to prom because I wanted to make you jealous", Jaemin said, in half a breath against Donghyuck's mouth. "Because I thought you didn't like me."

Donghyuck laughed. "I love you."

It was easy to say, now. There was no mistaking. He could scream it from the rooftops and risk getting himself killed, as long as anywhere Jaemin was in the world, he could hear it.

Jaemin pulled away, looking at Donghyuck with sparkles in his eyes, so soft and so gentle, Donghyuck couldn't help himself, stealing another kiss. "You're my family, Nana. I _am_ in love with you, I have been in love with you, but you're also everything I've got. I'm only alive because of you."

After all they've been through, he knew Jaemin felt the same. Donghyuck didn't need him to say anything. Jaemin cupped his face, caressing his cheeks as he leaned his forehead against Donghyuck's, and he wasn't expecting anything more from him.

Yet Jaemin still closed the distance between them, whispering against Donghyuck's lips, just for him to hear. "I'm only alive because of _you_."

Donghyuck smiled, raising a hand to Jaemin's nape and pulling him into another clumsy kiss.

It was going to be a cold night. The first of many, for the rest of this winter until the end of their lives. Soon, he knew they'd need to find actual shelter, a place that hadn't already been raided that they could stay for a while. For now, though, all they needed was each other.

All they had was each other, and Donghyuck had long since lost track of days and months, but that night felt like a Christmas miracle.

(They never took off the mistletoe, even after the poor old car stopped running in an empty street somewhere in Busan a couple years later. Anyone that passed by it would see history, untold.)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3 feel free to imagine any type of end of the world scenario, im not really sure what happened either!!
> 
> happy holidays!! ₍•͈ᴗ•͈₎


End file.
